It seems kind of clumsy to me; with the forced increases to alert that sometimes happen one turn after the other in missions, it's basically a foregone conclusion that you'll hit max alert, and enemies mysteriously heal and grow massively stronger when that happens. Taigha, in particular, are bonkers when max alert hits.
So, for comparison, here's a summary of the different alert levels: Alert Levels. Levels 2 through 5 are cumulative. 0. Stealth Mode. Skip the initiate deck and AI card steps at the start of the turn. Instead, a unit gets an AI card and its initiate card is put in the initiate deck if: an enemy in that unit is the target of an attack, skill or specialty card; any enemy in the unit can see a character within range 8 at the end of a character’s activation. Advance to Alert 1 if an enemy unit survives activating, or an attack with a weapon without CC Weapon is performed by a character. The rules default to this level. * Generate +1 Reinforcement token during “Check Alert Level” * Interacting with Consoles generates 2 aggro (not 1). * The AI get to activate first each round, instead of the players. Generate +1 Reinforcement token during “Check Alert Level” (+2 total) Enemy units deploy at Red. Maximum alert level. Going to Maximum Alert When the Alert Level goes to Maximum Alert, do the following: Remove all damage and states from deployed unit cards Any blue unit cards are flipped to red. Replace any missing models on each deployed unit card for free ==== So... If you think the "Going to Maximum Alert" rules are too tough, you're welcome to try something like "Don't use 'Going to Maximum Alert the first time you hit 5. If you're at Maximum and the alert level would increase again, apply the 'Going to Maximum Alert' rules."
I'm pretty sure it's just to set a time limit on getting the mission done. Speed seems to be more important than killing. I think things will become much easier to control once you have Jazz's versatile ability and a lot more damage on the other characters to make them more efficient at clearing. As I've said in another post, we actually managed to clear the board on Mission 4. Next mission we're expecting even better opportunities with Jazz's versatile ability and our Rahman completing his SMG and Assault Helmet.
Mission 4 was fairly easy in that regard, but in Mission 5 it's very much a matter of the enemies getting all sorts of weird bonuses that make it not worth it to actually fight them.
I hit max alert once, on scenario 3 with the charontid. I had ignored everything and just went straight for the charontid twice and the alert shot straight up. It ended up making things just about impossible. I almost think just making Max Alert a lose condition would have been more straight forward.
